12 Days of Christmas Stories 2019 – Day 2

#Teamwork #Dreamwork

Trust me, I know hashtags don’t actually work in email. Regardless, I still think they are fun to use and these are my emails, so you get to experience a little more Heather in your life 😉

I feel like teamwork is a great buzzword that withstands time. I’m back in the office and reflecting on last week with all of our Vision celebrations wrapped up and one family Christmas in the books. I’m feeling grateful for the teamwork I’m surrounded by in life! Here at Vision, our internal teamwork is paramount to our success. Equally as important though, is our teamwork with our customers and employees. That means having tough conversations because it’s the right thing to do. It means asking why to ensure there is growth. It means holding people accountable, talking through their interview prep, aiding in writing their resume, and more.

I read and write these stories with great pride in our team:

An email from an employee: “I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You believed in me when I was having a hard time believing in myself. You hooked me up with a job that reminded me that I AM smart, and capable. Without your help, I don’t know how all that would have turned out. You touched my life and probably didn’t even realize it. The greatest gift.”

From our team: “I’ve taken a lot of calls from G, he’s worked for us for over a year. Today was the best of all. He wanted to thank all of us here at Vision for everything we’ve done for him – he thanked us for the anniversary card too and he was beaming with pride. It was nice of him to make that call and remind us why we do what we do #peoplematter”

From our team: “We have a lot going on out in the field, and partner a lot in that space. I want to pause though, because without our internal service to one another we wouldn’t be who we are. We lift each other up on down days. Someone’s weaknesses can be someone else’s strengths and working together makes us all stronger” [She went on to share emails as support/celebration 😊]

When being pressed by National Competitors a client said they were blown away by our approach: “We’re not a national service by choice. We pride ourselves in providing the best customer service locally and we won’t sacrifice that to have a larger bottom line”

For our people: We had a reduction in force at a good size customer this fall. That creates a lot of stress and worry, but together we showed our people the most support we possibly could. We had sit down 1:1 meetings with each and every person so they knew where they stood, and to give them the support they deserved. Later, one of the employees contacted us and said “Because of my experience working for you guys, I was able to land this job quickly” when asked what specifically he said “From the hands on work and actual experience, the performance feedback, the lean manufacturing environment, and the coaching on situational based interview questions”

From a customer: “There have been a lot of unknowns over the last few months. Unknowns that have driven tough decisions and uncertainty. Unknowns that have driven situations and conversations to be uncomfortable and not easy. Thank you for the work your team has put into individuals working at [Customer]. Who you are as an organization shines through in moments like these. I have feedback that our leaders see it…I want to personally let you know how much I’ve appreciated your team and the support this last month…”

We are a business, so we definitely talk about numbers. But hear me out when I say –the #teamwork #dreamwork I’m talking about recognizes that there’s MORE to our work than numbers. There’s heart, in everything we do, there’s heart.

For everyone that was able to join us last week – Thank You for ‘showing up’; for those of you that missed it, we’ll see you next year 😊

And in case you’re worried….no, I’ve not run out of stories, I never will.